Lymington v Hampshire Academy

On a cloudy warmish day with a damp outfield, Lymington captain Simon Beetham won the toss and elected to field. Lymington opening bowlers Matt Metcalfe (20 overs 4 for 63) and Ed Freeman (6 overs 3 maidens 0 for 11) bowled well with the former picking up last year’s centurion and current Hampshire player Joe Weatherley caught behind off the 2nd ball. At 54 for 4 the Academy were struggling but Jake Goodwin (129) took the score to 189 before he was out. Simon Beetham (6 overs 0 for 38) and Darren Cowley (16 overs 0 for 38) backed up by Richard Lock (8 overs 2 for 36) and Dominic Hand (8 overs 2 for 36) tied The Hampshire Academy batsmen down who ended up with 228 after 64 overs declaring to allow Lymington to bat a minimum of 56 overs.

In reply the Lymington openers Cameron Grierson (0) and Lewis McManus (0) were soon parted when the latter hit an easy catch to gully and Richard Lock (0) fell to a mishit hook and the returning after 12 months Darren Cowley (3) was bowled. At 6 for 4 Lymington were on the back foot but Dominic Hand (41) and Ed Ellis (16) made a recovery however the latter was dismissed quickly followed by Ben Rogers (6). Simon Beetham (31) joined Hand but they were both dismissed with the score at 106. Matt Metcalfe (35) led another recovery and when he was caught at 148 for 9 with still 15 overs remaining it was left to Ollie Calcott (7 not out) and Ed Freeman (16 not out) not for the first time to bat out time and secure a losing draw.

Next week’s fixture on Saturday 18th June is at home at the Sports Ground against Havant CC starting at 11.30am